An ergonomic study of supervisory control systems from the human-computer interface perspective

Supervisory control software has been successfully used in several industrial automation control applications, improving work safety, levels of productivity and quality control in the industrial production process. In a process control situation, the supervision of processes is based upon the presentation to the user (process engineer) of synoptic diagrams, graphs, tables, alarms, etc. This information enables the adjustment of the process variables in order to increase the productivity level within the safety and quality constraints of the controlled process. This paper is concerned with the use of this technology in typical industrial applications, from the viewpoint of the man-machine interface. The paper starts by showing that the major differences found when comparing the supervisory software available lie in the set of tools and facilities offered to build the user interface component. In the second part, this paper shows that the major weak points detected in analyzing a set of typical interfaces result from the designer´s inexperience with human factors engineering, which in turn lead to inadequate products. Then, it highlights the effect of the user interface project on the ergonomic adequacy, work safety and productivity level. Finally, in order to help the supervisory software application developers, this paper presents a specific set of design guidelines and concludes with the discussion of the effect caused by the use of this set of guidelines